Modular display stand

ABSTRACT

A display stand includes a shelf member having a flange portion, the shelf being mounted on a support base including frame sections such that portions of the frame sections are received within the shelf flange.

United States Patent 11 1 Miller et a1.

[ MODULAR DISPLAY STAND [75] Inventors: Larry R. Miller. Speedway; Aldis J.

Leikarts, Indianapolis, both of 1nd.

[731 Assignee: Litton Business Systems, Inc.. Albert Lea. Minn.

22] Filed: May 23. 1973 211 App1.No.:363,272

1 1 Sept. 30, 1975 2.873.156 2/1959 Botnick 108/124 3.106.295 10/1963 108/159 3.106.296 10/1963 108/159 3.534.519 10/1970 108/111 3.722.905 3/1973 Solomon 211/178 R FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 173.549 12/1960 Sweden 108/159 Primary E.run1inerRoy D. Frazier Assistant E.\zm1inerDarre11 Marquette Attorney. Agent. or FirmRobert E. Lowe; Alan C. Rose [57] ABSTRACT A display stand includes a shelf member having a flange portion. the shelf being mounted on a support base including frame sections such that portions of the frame sections are received within the shelf flange.

4 Claims. 6 Drawing Figures US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet 1 of3 3 9% 564 FIG. 2

FIG.5

US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet 2 of3 3,908,564

FIGA

US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet 3 of3 3,908,564

MODULAR DISPLAY STAND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a display means and more particularly to a free standing modularly constructed display stand. I

An object of the invention is to provide a free standing display stand which is composed of few parts, is capable of being easily and quickly connected together for use, and may be easily separated for shipment or storage.

Another object of the invention is to provide a free standing display stand module which may be easily coupled to one or more like modules to vary the height and number of shelves provided in the stand.

SUMMARY Briefly described, the display stand of the present invention includes a shelf member having a surrounding flange portion. The shelf is mounted on a support base formed of rectangular frame sections and wherein portions of the frames are received within the shelf flange.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display stand made in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the stand of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the stand of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view in perspective of one module of the stand of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the connecting means for the stand rod members taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the frame assembly of the stand of FIG. 1 shown in its collapsed state.

DESCRIPTION OF AN ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, in FIG. 1 there is shown in assembled form, two modular sections of the display stand of the invention. FIG. 4 shows an exploded perspective view of one of the display stand sections. Each section will be seen to comprise a rectangular shelf member 10 and four frame sections 12, l4, l6 and I8 interconnected together by a plurality of hinge or coupling members so as to form an open sided box like structure which serves as a support base for the shelf member.

More particularly, each shelf member may be formed from a piece of sheet metal so as to comprise a flat rectangular shelf portion with end side walls upwardly bent and then turned downwardly so as to form an inverted U-shaped flange bordering along the four side edges of the shelf portion, as indicated at 22, 24, 26 and 28. As will be hereafter described, the flange portions 22, 24, and 28 receive respective wire or rod members 12a, 14a, 16a and 18a forming the upper horizontally disposed part of each ofthe rectangular frame sections 12, 14, I6 and 18 respectively.

As can be particularly seen from FIGS. 4 and 5, the ends of the upper and lower horizontally disposed rod members, in each of the frame sections I2, l4, l6 and 18 are bent inwardly at about a 20 angle from the rest ofthe rod before being further turned at 90 to the horizontal to form the vertical rod members of the frame sections. When four frame sections are assembled, this 20 bend of the horizontal rod members cause the horizontally disposed portions of each frame section to be slightly displaced or flared outwardly from the general confines of the box shape as defined by the vertical members of the frame sections.

The hinge means 20 connecting the frame sections may preferably be metal, as for example, steel, and as seen in the figures, each hinge may be in the form of a ferrule or sleeve-like member which is positioned around two vertical rod members of adjacent frame sections. As can be seen in FIG. 5, the ferrule may be open at one end so that it can be snap assembled around the coupled vertical rod members 30 and 32, for example. To insure that the ferrule stays in place it is thereafter preferably welded to one of the coupled vertical rod members at the open end of the ferrule indicated by the stippled area 34 of the ferrule shown in FIG. 5.

In the illustrated embodiment, two ferrules are used to pivotally couple or connect the vertical rods of two adjacent frame sections. One ferrule is positioned near the top end of the coupled rod sections and the other ferrule is positioned near the bottom end of said rod sections. Using this type of hinge means, and with four frames assembled as shown in FIG. 4, each frame section is pivotally moveable with respect to its adjacent coupled frame section. the pivotal axis being the vertical rod sections as joined by the connecting ferrules. By virtue of this arrangement of connected frame members there is provided a parallelogram frame assembly. An advantage of this frame construction is that the parallelogram frame assembly may easily be collapsed as shown for example in FIG. 6, thereby reducing the storage space required for the frame assembly in its knockdown position.

In the assembly of one module section of the display stand, the frame assembly is opened to the box-like position shown in FIG. 4. The shelf section is thereafter supportingly mounted on the top horizontally disposed rod members of each of the four frame sections such that each rod is securely captured within or under the respectively overlaping flange portion of the shelf member (see FIGS. 2 and 3). The flange opening is preferably slightly less than the diameter of the rod to be received therein so that in the assembly of the shelf to the frame, the flange may be flexed or spread apart as it is seated over its mating rod section, thereby to provide a snug fit and rigid assembly of the display stand module It will be noted, that the assembly of the shelf portion to the four frame portions fixes the coupled frame sections in a rigid box-like configuration without the use of any screws, nuts, bolts or other separate hardware.

When assembling two or more of the module display stands of the invention, the flange portions of the shelves are used as the means by which two stands are coupled together in vertical allignment, one above the other. It is important that the side wall width of the flange portions 22, 24, 26 and 28 be such that two rod members can securely be seated within each flange. For example, referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, where a display stand formed of two module sections illustrated, it will be seen that with the four section frame assembly of each module section positioned one above the other, the parrallel abutting horizontal rods of each frame are both received within a flange of a single shelf member seated thereon. Thus it will be seen that this coupling of a shelf member to two frame assemblies provides a simple. yet sturdy means of vertically stacking two or more display stand modules.

It will be apparent from the above that there has been provided a display stand of knock-down construction which is simple and rigid in its assembled form. and which may be easily varied in height and number of shelves provided.

What is claimed:

1. A modular support stand having a removable shelf member and a plurality of support bases, said support bases being collapsible when said stand is not in use comprising:

each said support base comprising a plurality of frame sections;

each of said frame sections including a pair of hori zontal rod members joined at the ends thereof to the corresponding ends of a pair of vertical rod members to thereby form a substantially rectangular section;

each of said vertical rod members of each frame section being movably joined by hinge means to the vertical rod member of the adjacent frame section to thereby provide a support base having polygonal configuration when said stand is in use;

at least two of said support bases being disposed in vertically stacked relationship to provide an upper and a lower support base;

said removable shelf member including a planar portion having a polygonal configuration corresponding substantially to the configuration of each said support base in its use position and being bordered along each of its side edges by an inverted U- shaped flange portion;

said shelf member flange portion being of sufficient depth to accommodate a pair of said horizontal rod members;

each said shelf member flange portion accommodating one upper horizontal rod member of said lower support base and the corresponding lower horizontal rod member of said upper support base 2. A modular support stand defined in claim 1 wherein each said support base is movable about said hinge means between a first open use position substantially in the form of a cube and a second substantially flat closed position.

3. A modular support stand as defined in claim 1 wherein the diameter of the uppermost horizontally disposed rod member in each of said frame sections of said lower support base relative to the inverted U opening in said shelfflange portion is such that each of said horizontal members is tightly received within a respective overlying flange portion of the shelf member in the assembly of said shelf member to said lower support base.

4. A modular support stand as defined in claim 3 wherein said hinge means includes a plurality of ferrules, said ferrules being used to couple together the vertically oriented rod members of adjacent frame sections defining each said polgonal support base. 

1. A modular support stand having a removable shelf member and a plurality of support bases, said support bases being collapsiBle when said stand is not in use comprising: each said support base comprising a plurality of frame sections; each of said frame sections including a pair of horizontal rod members joined at the ends thereof to the corresponding ends of a pair of vertical rod members to thereby form a substantially rectangular section; each of said vertical rod members of each frame section being movably joined by hinge means to the vertical rod member of the adjacent frame section to thereby provide a support base having polygonal configuration when said stand is in use; at least two of said support bases being disposed in vertically stacked relationship to provide an upper and a lower support base; said removable shelf member including a planar portion having a polygonal configuration corresponding substantially to the configuration of each said support base in its use position and being bordered along each of its side edges by an inverted Ushaped flange portion; said shelf member flange portion being of sufficient depth to accommodate a pair of said horizontal rod members; each said shelf member flange portion accommodating one upper horizontal rod member of said lower support base and the corresponding lower horizontal rod member of said upper support base.
 2. A modular support stand as defined in claim 1 wherein each said support base is movable about said hinge means between a first open use position substantially in the form of a cube and a second substantially flat closed position.
 3. A modular support stand as defined in claim 1 wherein the diameter of the uppermost horizontally disposed rod member in each of said frame sections of said lower support base relative to the inverted U opening in said shelf flange portion is such that each of said horizontal members is tightly received within a respective overlying flange portion of the shelf member in the assembly of said shelf member to said lower support base.
 4. A modular support stand as defined in claim 3 wherein said hinge means includes a plurality of ferrules, said ferrules being used to couple together the vertically oriented rod members of adjacent frame sections defining each said polgonal support base. 